It's that time of year when cherry trees, many of them lining our streets, come into blossom for a spectacular but fairly short-lived show. Those above are in Chelsea.The trees we see blossoming so freely are ornamental cherries and are not the same as those that provide the edible fruit, sadly.

An unusual thing to find scampering across the arm of the sofa: a Nursery web spider, easily identified by its slender proportions and pale stripe down the centre of the head. I see these amongst long grasses in the great outdoors but I've never seen one in the house before. Note that it's in he bottom of a pint glass in the shot above and not as big and scary as it might seem.

It's so called because it spins a big tent of silk for its youngsters to protect them in their first days after hatching. It's a hunter that simply waits for prey then chases and overpowers it, so perhaps it had to find another use for its web spinning abilities.

Both of these pictures are of Ivy (Latin name "Hedera"), but the one on the left shows the juvenile leaves and the right shows the adult leaves and berries. They are the same plant and often you'll find both leaf types on the same specimen, but I imagine most people would only instantly recognise the picture on the left.